Boris Johnson was torn apart in a scathing rant from the former House of Commons speaker John Bercow on Monday.
Bercow, who developed a reputation for his outlandish behaviour as a speaker, was a Conservative MP up until the 2019 general election.
Although he had to be impartial in his parliamentary role, he has since been a renowned critic of Brexit and recent Tory prime ministers – he defected to Labour last year.
He made his opposition to the current prime minister abundantly clear on Monday night when speaking to Sky News, and even went as far as to say Johnson has “no redeeming features”.
Asked if he would send the prime minister a love letter or letter of dismissal amid the ongoing debates about the need for Johnson to step down, Bercow replied: “Oh, without hesitation I would send him a letter of dismissal.”
“Never has a prime minister wielded so much power, made so little effective use of it, and been seen in quite such indecent haste to blow his own trumpet,” he continued.
“I’ve been aware of 12 prime ministers in my lifetime – by a country mile, Boris Johnson is the worst.
“He’s a narcissist, he doesn’t do the detail, he’s ritually dishonest, having a nodding acquaintance with the truth at best only in a leap year.
“He is responsible for a catalogue of failures.
“He is the most inarticulate public speaker and prime minister I have ever known.
“He has no redeeming virtues, he’s stayed there far too long.
“It is time that he gave up office and beetled off into the distance which would be an enormous relief, not just to this country and the European continent, but to the world.”
And it turns out Bercow is not the only one with such strong feelings towards Johnson, judging from the social media reaction.
Johnson’s leadership has been under pressure ever since evidence emerged of parties being held in No.10 Downing Street throughout the pandemic.
While not enough Tory MPs have yet handed in letters of no confidence – 54 letters are needed to trigger a party vote about keeping him as prime minister – the Metropolitan’s ongoing investigation into the gatherings is expected to be a major turning point in his leadership.